Reclining chairs



Oct. 17, 1961 F. F. SCHLIEPHACKE 3,004,791

RECLINING CHAIRS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 28, 1958 INVENTOR. FRIDTJOFF SCHLIEPHACKE A T TORNEYS.

Filed 001;. 28, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F/GZ.

INVENT OR. FRIDTJOF F. SCHLIEPHACKE ATTORNEYS.

3,004,791 RECLINHIG CHAIRS Fridtjof F. Schliephacke,Berlin-Schmargendorf, Germany, assignor to Anton Lorenz, Boynton Beach,Fla.

Filed Oct. 28, 1958, Ser. No. 770,181 3 Claims. (Cl. 297-85) Thisinvention relates to chairs and pertains particularly to recliningchairs having a backrest, a seat, and a leg rest, all supported on abase frame and movable with respect to said base frame and with respectto each other to assume a reclining position.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a reclining chair inwhich the backrest, seat and leg rest, when moved to reclining position,support the body of the occupant in a relaxed, comfortable position.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a construction inwhich the operative connections between the parts of the chair are suchas to permit a compact arrangement of parts adapted to conform to modernstyling.

grates Fatent It is a further object of the present invention to providea construction in which, in the upright position of the chair, the legrest is located beneath the seat and is substantially concealed fromview, and in which, in the reclining position of the chair, the leg restis swung downwardly, forwardly and upwardly to a position in advance ofthe seat.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

A preferred embodiment of the invention selected for purposes ofillustration is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the chair, one side frame being brokenaway, the chair being shown in upright position.

' FIGURE 2 is a similar view, showing the chair in reclining position.

Referring to the drawings, the base frame unit comprises two spaced,parallel side frames, only one of which, designated by reference numeral1, is shown in the drawings. The other side frame is identical. The sideframes are tied together by cross frames 2, 3 and 4 which are rigidlyconnected thereto. The frame is supported on front legs 5 and rear legs6 rigidly connected to the side frames. The side frames, cross framesand legs may be made of wood or metal, as desired, and the side framesmay be upholstered, or not, as desired.

The movable parts of the chair include a backrest 8, a seat 9, and a legrest 10. Each of these parts may be of any desired type of standardconstruction, upholstered, or not, as desired. As shown, each of theseparts is an upholstered type, in which the upholstery is mounted on asuitable supporting frame. In the following description, the operativeconnections between the movable parts will be described with respect toonly one side of the chair, it being understood that the said parts areduplicated on the other side of the chair.

A metal bar 11 having two angularly disposed legs is rigidly mounted onthe inside face of each of the side frames in any suitable manner, as bymeans of screws, the said bars serving to add strength and rigidity tothe side frames and also to provide certain fixed pivot points on theside frames as hereinafter described.

Another metal bar 12 having two angularly disposed legs is rigidlymounted on each of the side faces of the backrest 8 in any suitablemanner, as by means of screws.

The said bar adds strength and rigidity to the lower portion of thebackrest and also provide certain pivot points as hereinafter described.

Thus, the backrest 8 is pivotally mounted on the side ice frames 1 bymeans of the pivot pin 14 extending through the bar 11 and the bar 12and providing a fixed pivot on which the backrest may swing from uprightto reclining position, and vice versa. Also, the seat is pivotallyconnected to the backrest by means of a metal bar 15 rigidly mounted oneach of the side faces of the seat in any suitable manner, as by meansof screws, the said bars extending rearwardly from the seat and beingpivotally connected to bar 12 and the backrest by pivot pin 16.

The seat 9 is also pivotally connected to a guide link 18 by means ofpivot pin 19 which extends through bar 15. The link 18, in turn, ispivotally connected to the frame unit by pivot pin 20 which extendsthrough bracket 21 mounted on the cross frame 4. so that, as the chairis moved to reclining position, the rearward swinging movement of thebackrest, acting through the bars 12 and 15, acting as levers, moves theseat forwardly, swinging the guide link forwardly to the position shownin FIG. 2. In doing so, the guide link 18 guides and supports the seat,the action being such as to raise the level of the front end of the seatwhile lowering the level of the rear end of the seat, thereby increasingits angle of slope toward the rear.

The lower end of bar 12 is pivotally connected to one end of link 23 bypivot pin 22, and the other end of said link is pivotally connected toan intermediate portion of lever 24 by pivot pin 25. Lever 24 ispivotally mounted at one end on the side frame by pivot pin 26 whichextends through bar 11. The other end of lever 24 is pivot allyconnected by pivot pin 27 to one end of an actuating lever 28.

The actuating lever 28, so referred to because it serves as the leg restactuating lever, is pivotally connected to the leg rest by means ofpivot pin 30 which extends through a metal plate 31 rigidly mounted onthe side of the leg rest. The leg rest is also connected to theactuating lever 28 by a link and lever system as follows. Link 32 ispivotally mounted on the seat by means of pivot pin 33 extending throughthe forward endof bar 15. A second link 34 is also pivotally mounted onthe seat by means of pivot pin 35 extending through the bar 15 at apoint spaced rearwardly from the pivot pin 33. Links 32 and 34, in turn,are pivotally connected to a lever 36 by pivot pins 37 and 38,respectively, and the forward end of the lever 36 carries a pin 39 whichextends into the cam slot 40 in the plate 31 to provide a lost-motionconnection between the lever 36 and the leg rest. The pivot pin 33 whichconnects the link 32 to the seat is located above the actuating lever28, and the pivot pin 37 which connects the link 32 to the lever 36 islocated below the actuating lever 28, and at the point where the link 32crosses the actuating lever, it is pivotally connected thereto by pivotpin 41. Thus, as the actuating lever 28 moves forwardly, the links 32and 34 swing forwardly, moving the lever 36 forwardly to swing the legrest on its pivot 30. As shown, the cam slot 40 is curved, but it may beshaped as desired to bring the leg rest to the desired level in thereclining position of the chair.

If desired, a stop pin 42 may be mounted on the side of the seat 3 inposition to engage the upper edge of the link 34 when the chair is inupright position in order to provide support for the seat.

In the upright position of the chair, as illustrated in FIG. 1, thebackrest is tilted slightly backwardly from vertical position, and theseat slopes slightly downwardly from front to back in order to provide acomfortable seated posture for the occupant. In this position, the legrest is retracted beneath the seat, and is almost concealed from view.In the reclining position, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the backrest istilted backwardly, as shown, and the seat is moved forwardly. As theseat is moved forwardly, the forward end is moved upwardly while therear end is moved downwardly, thus increasing the angle of slope. At thesame time, the leg rest has been swung downwardly, forwardly andupwardly to, a position to support the legs of the occupant.

The shift from upright to reclining position may be brought aboutwhenever one sitting in the chair in its upright position exertsbackward pressure against the backrest by shifting the weight of thebody or by pressing forwardly against the side frames of the base unit,or both. As the backrest swings backwardly on the fixed pivot 14, thelevers 12 and 15, acting through pivot 16, move the seat forwardly,causing the guide link I 18 to swing forwardly on fixed pivot 20,guiding and supporting the seat and increasing its rearward slope. Atthe same time, the lever 12, acting through link 23, swings the lever 24forwardly on fixed pivot 26', which motion, in turn, moves the actuatinglever 28 forwardly. The forward motion of the actuating lever 28 has tworesults. First, it moves the pivot 30 of the leg rest forwardly to aposition in advance of the seat. Second, through actuation of the links32 and 34 and the lever 36, and through motion of pin 39 in the cam slot40, it swings the leg rest downwardly, forwardly and up wardly to theposition shown in FIG. 2. -In the upright position of the chair, asshown in FIG. 1, the pin 39 is located'intermediate the ends of the camslot. As the chair is moved to reclining position, the pin 39 movesfirst in one direction in the cam slot, i.e. forwardly as seen in FIG..1, and then moves in the other direction to the other end of the camslot as shown in FIG. 2. This arrangement is necessary in order topermit the leg rest to be located beneath the seat in the uprightposition of the chair, and to swing through a wide angle in moving toreclining position.

If, now, it is desired to resume upright position, it is only necessaryto exert slight downward pressure on the leg rest, accompanied, ifdesired, by leaning forwardly and pressing backwardly against the sideframes to relieve the backward pressure of the body against thebackrest.

It will be understood that the invention may be variously modified andembodied within the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a reclining chair having a support, a backrest pivotally mountedon said support for reclining move ment thereon, a. seat operativelyconnected with said backrest, and a leg rest, an improved leg restactuating and control linkage which comprises a leg vrest actuatinglever having its rear end operatively connected to said backrest andextending forwardly beneath said seat to a point near the :front of theseat, said leg rest being pivotally mounted on the front end of saidactuating lever, two links pivotally mounted on said seat at spacedpoints, one of said links being pivotally connected to said actuatinglever and a connecting lever pivotally connected with both of saidlinks, said connecting lever having a lost motion connection with saidleg rest.

. 2. A reclining chair as claimed in claim 1 in which said lost-motionconnection comprises a pin on said lever and a cam slot on said legrest.

3. A reclining chair as claimed in claim 1 in which said leg rest islocated beneath said seat in the upright position of the chair, and inwhich said lost-motion connection comprises a pin on said lever and acam slot on said leg rest, said pin being located intermediate the endsof said cam slot in the upright position of the chair and moving firstin one direction and then in the other direction in said cam slot as thechair is. moved from upright to reclining position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,663,357 Belisle Dec. 22, 1953 2,749,970 Quakenbush Tune 12, 19562,750,988 Luckhardt June 19, 1956 2,871,917 Schliephacke Feb. 3, 19592,872,968 Lorenz Feb. 10, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 38,218. Germany May 19,1886 488,081 Italy Dec. 14, 1953

